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Individual Curriculum Units
The Choices Program develops curriculum on foreign policy and international issues. Units are reproducible. Teacher Sets include a reproducible student text and a teacher guide with lesson plans and additional teaching resources. Teacher Sets can be order as a series at a discounted price. Classroom sets and E-texts are also available. See How to Order. Units are revised frequently to keep up with current events and changing historiography.List of All Units
Between World Wars: FDR and the Age of Isolationism
Between World Wars: FDR and the Age of Isolationism examines the events in the United States and overseas in the early years of World War II and then recreates the great debate that took place in the United States over the Lend-Lease Act.More Details | Order Unit
Beyond Manifest Destiny: America Enters the Age of Imperialism
This unit probes the political and ethical issues raised by the Spanish-American War and the acquisition of an overseas empire. Students compare America's values and concerns at the turn of the century with the challenges facing U.S. policy today.More Details | Order Unit
Caught Between Two Worlds: Mexico at the Crossroads
This unit involves students in Mexico's wrenching economic and cultural transformation. The unit probes Mexico's complex identity and history--from a Mexican perspective--to bring students face-to-face with the difficult policy choices confronting the people of Mexico today.More Details | Order Unit
The Challenge of Nuclear Weapons
The Challenge of Nuclear Weapons introduces students to the history of nuclear weapons and the concept of deterrence. It examines arguments for and against nuclear weapons and looks at three challenges facing us today: the leftover arsenals of the Cold War, proliferation, and the threat of nuclear terrorism.More Details | Order Unit
Challenges to the New Republic: The War of 1812
This unit examines the foreign policy challenges of the early U.S. administrations as the new nation struggled to gain international respect. Students consider the choices for America in 1812.More Details | Order Unit
Charting Russia's Future
This unit engages students in the soul-searching redefinition of Russia's identity. Students explore Russian history and view Moscow's economic, political, and foreign policy choices through Russian eyes.More Details | Order Unit
China on the World Stage: Weighing the U.S. Response
This unit focuses attention on our country's evolving relationship with the emerging East Asian giant. Students explore the history of Western relations with China and consider the global impact of China's economic growth, societal transformation, and increasing international involvement.More Details | Order Unit
Colonialism in the Congo: Conquest, Conflict, and Commerce
This unit confronts students with the history of King Leopold's Congo Free-State and the international debate on how to respond. It provides a foundation for assessing the moral, political, cultural, and economic issues raised by colonialism.More Details | Order Unit
Conflict in Iraq: Searching for Solutions
Iraq is the most pressing foreign policy problem facing the United States. Students explore the history of Iraq and the current conflict and engage in informed discussion about the U.S. role in Iraq today.More Details | Order Unit
Confronting Genocide: Never Again?
This unit traces the evolution of the international community's response to genocide and examines how the United States has responded to five cases of genocide. Students consider how we should respond in the future if confronted with another genocide.More Details | Order Unit
Contesting Cuba's Past and Future
The unit puts students in the role of Cubans today as they consider Cuba's future. It traces Cuba's highly contested history from the country's pre-colonial past to its most recent economic, social, and political changes.More Details | Order Unit
The Cuban Missile Crisis: Considering its Place in Cold War History
This unit probes the complex relationship between the United States and Cuba, and examines the crisis that brought the world to the brink of war. The unit incorporates groundbreaking research on the Cuban missile crisis.More Details | Order Unit
Dilemmas of Foreign Aid: Debating U.S. Priorities, Policies, and Practices
This unit introduces students to four kinds of foreign aid: development assistance, military and security aid, economic stabilization, and humanitarian assistance. Students consider the reasons for and consequences of exporting the American values of democracy, free enterprise, and human rights.More Details | Order Unit
To End All Wars: World War I and the League of Nations Debate
This unit explores the transformation of U.S. foreign policy during World War I and the emergence of Wilson's vision for a new world order. Students take part in the conference at Versailles to decide the future of Europe and in the Senate debate to determine the U.S. role in the postwar world.More Details | Order Unit
Ending the War Against Japan: Science, Morality, and the Atomic Bomb
This unit engages students in the political, military, and ethical issues involved in the decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The unit examines the interplay between science and policy that shaped the Manhattan Project.More Details | Order Unit
A Forgotten History: The Slave Trade and Slavery in New England
This unit explores the nature of the triangular trade and the extent of slavery in New England. It discusses the effects of the trade in slaves and of slavery itself for the new Americans of the time, helping students to understand how history, and the telling of history, affects us today.More Details | Order Unit
Freedom in Our Lifetime: South Africa's Struggle
This unit explores the history of South Africa and the development of a race-based society, the effects of apartheid on individuals and society, and the decision by some members of the anti-apartheid community to use violence to oppose the government's policies.More Details | Order Unit
From Colony to Democracy: Considering Brazil's Development
This unit explores the choices faced by Brazilians as the country transitioned to democracy in the mid-1980s and introduces students to some of the historical forces that informed debates at this critical point in Brazil's history.More Details | Order Unit
Global Environmental Problems: Implications for U.S. Policy
This unit invites students to weigh the significance of global environmental problems in the formulation of U.S. foreign policy today. The unit traces the entry of climate change, water pollution, deforestation, biodiversity, and population pressures into the sphere of public policy.More Details | Order Unit
Indian Independence and the Question of Pakistan
This unit on the partition of British India engages students in an exploration of South Asia's history and its legacy for the region today. Students examine the history of the subcontinent and the issues leading up to partition, and explore its significance in today's world.More Details | Order Unit
Iran Through the Looking Glass: History, Reform, and Revolution
Iran Through the Looking Glass: History, Reform, and Revolution traces the history of Iran from its early dynasties to the present. Readings and activities help students understand the political and cultural conditions that led to the 1979 Revolution and its aftermath. [Available: January 2008]More Details | Order Unit
The Limits of Power: The United States in Vietnam
This unit draws students into the key decision points marking U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Historical background and original documents recreate the assumptions and mind-sets shaping American foreign policy during the Vietnam War years.More Details | Order Unit
A More Perfect Union: American Independence and the Constitution
This unit examines the political, social, and economic context in which the U.S. Constitution was framed. Students explore parallels between the controversies of America's formative years and our country's present-day civic discourse.More Details | Order Unit
The Origins of the Cold War: U.S. Choices after World War II
This unit engages students in the national debate on the U.S. role in the world in 1946. The unit recalls the historically-rooted ambivalence with which Americans greeted their country's sudden prominence in world affairs after World War II.More Details | Order Unit
Responding to Terrorism: Challenges for Democracy
This unit addresses the issues arising from the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Students are drawn into consideration of the changing nature of terrorism, the motivations of terrorists, and the policy challenges for the United States.More Details | Order Unit
The Russian Revolution
This unit explores the events leading up to Lenin and the Bolsheviks' assumption of power. Students examine the political and economic conditions that led to the fall of the Tsar and explore the competing political ideologies in revolutionary-era Russia.More Details | Order Unit
Shifting Sands: Balancing U.S. Interests in the Middle East
This unit draws students into the policy debate on one of the world's most volatile regions. Students examine the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Role of oil in geopolitics, the politicization of Islam, the significance of the Iranian Revolution, and other historical issues that have shaped U.S. ties to the region.More Details | Order Unit
Teacher's Guide for The Fog of War
The Teacher's Guide for The Fog of War provides a series of lesson plans to accompany Errol Morris' Academy Award wining full-length documentary. [Teacher's Guide only; DVD not included]More Details | Order Unit
U.S. Immigration Policy in an Unsettled World
Students examine the historical and current dimensions of an issue that has become a key focus of U.S. policy in the wake of 9.11. This unit engages students in the current debate about our national identity.More Details | Order Unit
The U.S. Role in a Changing World
This unit helps students reflect on global changes, assess national priorities, and decide for themselves the role the United States should play in the world today. Readings include discussions of security, economy, environment, culture, and politics.More Details | Order Unit
U.S. Trade Policy: Competing in a Global Economy
Students explore how U.S. trade policy fits into our country's overall role in the world. This unit considers trade issues in the context of international relations, the forces of globalization, and concerns about economic inequity.More Details | Order Unit
The United Nations: Challenges and Change
The United Nations: Challenges and Change introduces students to the idea of "collective security," tracing the emergence of the League of Nations to the formation of the United Nations.More Details | Order Unit
Weimar Germany and the Rise of Hitler
This unit explores the political culture of Weimar Germany and examines why democracy failed to take root in a modern, industrialized society that had long been at the forefront of Western civilization.More Details | Order Unit